If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

A broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence, with the one bright spot being Carey’s younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with greater frequency. Until that one fateful day their mother disappears for good, and two strangers arrive. Suddenly, the girls are taken from the woods and thrust into a bright and perplexing new world of high school, clothes and boys.

Now, Carey must face the truth of why her mother abducted her ten years ago, while haunted by a past that won’t let her go… a dark past that hides many a secret, including the reason Jenessa hasn’t spoken a word in over a year. Carey knows she must keep her sister close, and her secrets even closer, or risk watching her new life come crashing down.

After being taken by her drug addicted mother ten years ago Carey and her sister Jenessa are found living in the woods alone. Brought back to live with her father and his new wife, they try to adjust to living a normal life outside of the woods and come to terms with what was done to them.

Character Highlights:

Carey – The entire book is told from her perspective which though informative I think it would have helped better under Jenessa, her father, and even her step-mother and sister if we could have seen how these same situations were affecting them. For going through what was done to her and still want to fight for a life she’s stronger than almost any character you will find.

Overall Thoughts:

I’m not going to lie after reading this book I think I need to take a step back from my “issues” books. This was system overload on the amount of physical, mental, and sexual abuse that Carey and her sister had to go through. Her mother being mentally unstable and a drug addict would leave them for months at a time and when there would use them in horrible ways. On top on all that she then brainwashed them to think that Carey’s father was the person in the wrong. It was all too much. It’s a very powerful story, but definitely not for the faint hearted.